This invention relates to a drive for a plurality of rotatable components of a carding machine, such as the coiler shaft, the calender rollers, the squeezing rollers, the take-off roller, the doffer and the like. The drive includes a speed-variable motor and a gearing which drivingly interconnects the rotatable carding components.
In known carding machines the drive is, in the zone of the web doffing, divided, as a rule, in several branch drives and has a great number of driving elements. The output of the drive motor is, for example, divided into a first group comprising the take-off roller, the doffer and squeezing rollers and into a second group comprising the calender assembly, including the calender rollers and the coiler. While the motor rotates with relatively small rpm, the rpm is increased for the two above-noted groups. For this purpose, several step-up stages in the gearing are necessary; this leads to output losses and thus to a reduction of the efficiency of the drive.